Makur Maker

[Hal14]

at some point this dude actually needs to play some bball

What more do you want from him?

He was no. 16 recruit coming out of high school, was ranked ahead of Cooper, Christopher, Isaiah Jackson, Springer, etc.

Suffered a minor injury after playing 2 college games and the team cancelled their season due to COVID after 5 games.

It's not like he's been sitting on his a%% since then. In the first post of this thread you see the 6 part documentary series on his rigorous workouts he did with top notch trainers to get ready for pre-draft workouts.

Then he went to the combine and was one of the best players during scrimmages - from the scrimmages I saw at the combine the guys who impressed the most were Maker, Wieskamp, Hyland, Primo and Grimes (in no particular order)

His next opportunity to play on any type of stage will be this season in the NBL..what else was he supposed to do?

[Hal14]

https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/high-school/2021/08/23/ex-hillcrest-prep-basketball-star-maker-joins-nbls-sydney-kings/8245384002/

He'll be the 4th big in Sydney. The Kings have Jarell Martin, Xavier Cooks and Jordan Hunter.

Just like Kai Sotto in Adelaide, their fans expect them to start and dominate though. It'll be interesting to see how they react to the reality that they're not superstar NBL players. That said, I'm hoping for the best with Makur. It's really hard to know how good he is based off some scrimmage play and 2 college games.

Probably not very good at all.

Thank you for such an insightful contribution to the discussion

[clyde21]

at some point this dude actually needs to play some bball

What more do you want from him?

He was no. 16 recruit coming out of high school, was ranked ahead of Cooper, Christopher, Isaiah Jackson, Springer, etc.

Suffered a minor injury after playing 2 college games and the team cancelled their season due to COVID after 5 games.

It's not like he's been sitting on his a%% since then. In the first post of this thread you see the 6 part documentary series on his rigorous workouts he did with top notch trainers to get ready for pre-draft workouts.

Then he went to the combine and was one of the best players during scrimmages - from the scrimmages I saw at the combine the guys who impressed the most were Maker, Wieskamp, Hyland, Primo and Grimes (in no particular order)

His next opportunity to play on any type of stage will be this season in the NBL..what else was he supposed to do?

you don't have to tell me about his journey or where he was ranked on a recruiting class, I'm well of aware of Makur and I was one of the first dudes to really dig into him on this site.

again, ill repeat, at some point this dude needs to put actual tape of him playing organized ball, and no, combine scrimmages don't count. what he should've done was join the G League...instead decide to hop back to Australia for some reason.

his entire career so far has been full of awkward and weird decisions.

[Hal14]

at some point this dude actually needs to play some bball

What more do you want from him?

He was no. 16 recruit coming out of high school, was ranked ahead of Cooper, Christopher, Isaiah Jackson, Springer, etc.

Suffered a minor injury after playing 2 college games and the team cancelled their season due to COVID after 5 games.

It's not like he's been sitting on his a%% since then. In the first post of this thread you see the 6 part documentary series on his rigorous workouts he did with top notch trainers to get ready for pre-draft workouts.

Then he went to the combine and was one of the best players during scrimmages - from the scrimmages I saw at the combine the guys who impressed the most were Maker, Wieskamp, Hyland, Primo and Grimes (in no particular order)

His next opportunity to play on any type of stage will be this season in the NBL..what else was he supposed to do?

you don't have to tell me about his journey or where he was ranked on a recruiting class, I'm well of aware of Makur and I was one of the first dudes to really dig into him on this site.

again, ill repeat, at some point this dude needs to put actual tape of him playing organized ball, and no, combine scrimmages don't count. what he should've done was join the G League...instead decide to hop back to Australia for some reason.

his entire career so far has been full of awkward and weird decisions.

Yeah. I was expecting him to go G-league as well.

And yeah, going to Howard was a weird decision for sure.

Definitely still a prospect I've got my eye on, though. There's a ton of potential there, as I'm sure you know.

[GimmeDat]

NBL's a pretty proven stepping stone for talent. Most overseas talent would rather compete back in their home countries than in the grueling G League schedule full of guys playing, often, for themselves.

[Hal14]

Debut in the NBL the other day for Maker. He was matched up with Ariel Hukporti quite a bit.

-Maker looks a little more mobile, more bounce, spring in his step compared to what we saw in the NBA draft combine and in the training videos with Darren Collison pre-draft. Guessing he's dropped at least 10 lbs, which is good because while he did look very good in the combine scrimmages, he did look a little slow getting up and down the court, Moses Wright beat him down the court pretty easily at one point, and Maker was one of the slower guys in the speed/agility drills. Looks like he made it a point over the past few months to drop a few pounds and get quicker.

-While he may have dropped a few pounds, i was impressed with how he still has the strength to battle and muscle people in the paint - in this game he was quite a load on the offensive boards, getting some nice put-backs

-Was looking for his outside shot, went 1/4 from 3. Obviously he knows that a big man who can stretch the floor and shoot is more valuable. We already knew he could shoot it, though. This was his first real competitive game since the combine, so understandable if his shot was a little rusty (1 of his 3 misses from 3 was an airball).

-Showed ability to face up from perimeter, put the ball on the floor, use a crossover dribble to drive on people. But one 1 drive he had to kick it back out cause he couldn't get separation, and he turned it over on the other drive - the ball was slipping out of his hands a little bit. That's something someone else mentioned in this thread - that he doesn't have great hands. That's definitely something to keep an eye on. Maybe he can just use that chalk/powder stuff to get the ball. to stick to his hands better?

Full game here:

Watch on YouTube

[Hal14]

He's played in 18 games this season..

First 5 games = 8.3% from 3 (1/12)

Last 13 games = 48.3% from 3 (14/29)

I get it. Not a huge sample size but wow, it's pretty impressive a) how well he's been shooting the ball over the past 13 games and b) how big of a jump he took in his ability to hit shots from early in the season to later in the season

He's 6'11", strong frame, decent mobility. 21 yrs old.

Plus he was a 5 star recruit coming out of HS 2 years ago..

[LessEyeTest]

He's played in 18 games this season..

First 5 games = 8.3% from 3 (1/12)

Last 13 games = 48.3% from 3 (14/29)

I get it. Not a huge sample size but wow, it's pretty impressive a) how well he's been shooting the ball over the past 13 games and b) how big of a jump he took in his ability to hit shots from early in the season to later in the season

He's 6'11", strong frame, decent mobility. 21 yrs old.

Plus he was a 5 star recruit coming out of HS 2 years ago..

Does he have the same physical profile as his brother? As in mediocre wingspan and tiny hands?

[CptCrunch]

Same shady guardian in Edward Smith. Hard pass. Go read the Wiki pages for the Maker cousins and feel how much of an egotistical charlatan "Ed" Smith is.